F(Armiii[i of JS^urthmiqjiunsJdrc. 



101 



ship's tenantry in tliat locality, into very useful and productive 

 corn-producin<2: land. On the estates ol Lord Overstone, Lewis 

 Lloyd, Esq., J. llope, Esq., E. Bouverie, Esq., and many other 

 proprietors, similar results have followed, hut the extent of this 

 kind of improvement has been very limited. 



It would be a fruitless attempt to endeavour to condense into 

 this report a tithe of the improvements that have been effected by 

 mechanical skill in the manufacturing of agricultural implements 

 during the last forty-five years ; I shall therefore only refer to a 

 few, commencing with the plough. I have myself held many 

 times, in the once open fields of Stanwick, one of those old- 

 fashioned one-handled ploughs, the right handle not being fixed, 

 but consisting of a staff with a hook at the end of it, supplying 

 the double ofifice of handle and plough spud. This was abolished 

 for the Woodford swing plough, which still is an useful imple- 

 ment for the stirring of rough fallows after which Ransome's 

 and other wheel-ploughs were introduced. I remember when 

 ]Mr. Turnell, of Dallington, who at that time was occupying a 

 large farm at Stanwick, introduced the wheel-ploughs on his farm, 

 that it produced quite a consternation amongst the ploughmen and 

 boys : loud and frequent were the prophecies that they would 

 never do, but thev have outlived all their predictions, and we 

 have now at our different annual ploughing matches as good spe- 

 cimens of ploughing as can be done in any of the adjoining 

 counties. 



The thrashing and winnowing machines are both new inven- 

 tions ; the former has to some extent displaced the flail, and the 

 latter the fan. Crosskill's clod-crushers have superseded the 

 " wooden beetle," or spiked roll ; the drill takes the place of 

 the seblet ; and in every kind of agricultural implements, the 

 mechanical skill of the different makers has been called into 

 active enterprise. 



There has also been a very great improvement in the breeding 

 of cattle and sheep. The old long-horned cows have been replaced 

 by the improved short horns, and this county is much indebted 

 to the late Earl Spencer, of whose worth the county may be 

 justly proud,*' for the untiring energy, liberality, and practical 

 knowledge, he evinced for many years in the improvement of the 

 breeds of cattle and sheep. The success of the Xorthamptonshire 

 Farming and Grazing Society was, from its commencement, much 

 indebted to him and the late Clark Hillyard, Esq., of Thorpe- 

 lands ; and it is to be regretted that since his death it has not been 

 carried forward by the tenant farmers with that vigour and sup- 

 port it deserves. The present Earl Spencer liberally contributes 

 to its iunds, and it ranks amongst its supporters the names of the 

 Duke of Buccleuch, Marquis of Exeter, Sir A. Brooke, Rev. Sir 



